MASSIVE EGO

Church For The Malfunctioned

Church For The Malfunctioned, is the title of the new album from Massive Ego, released by Out of Line. This British dark-wave ensemble, from and with ex-model Marc Massive, first appeared on the dark scene in 1996. And after more than 20 years they are still there, this time with an album filled with songs that place religious beliefs and their role in today’s society under a dark sky with lots of question marks taking the place of the stars.

The album is released as a limited 2 CD Digi-Pack edition, which includes a bonus CD filled with exclusive remixes, as well as a CD + T-shirt bundle. And oh yes, the music …? Well, their music is still built on a solid basis of 80s electro-pop, reinforced with gothic elements, heavy beats and industrial infusions.

What we get served here is indeed some very digestible electro. We start off with the synth-pop-ish ‘Digital Heroin’ and continue straight after with a more subdued and compelling synth-pop ballad ‘The Wolf’. Then it’s future-pop with ‘My Religion Is Dark’. A song that is heaped with very nice danceable melodies and rhythms. However, the vocals surrounds the song bring more than enough dark clouds. Dance, dance… and now that every fibre in our body has been stretched we fast forward to ‘Point Of No Return’, which is a dance-floor masterpiece of the same kind.

More deeper and darker beats follow in ‘Malfunctioning Me’. Some solid guitar playing is not missing from this album and although they are mostly shy and hidden in the background, they are quite upfront on ‘Fallen From Grace’, which spreads a more industrial rock scent. ‘World In The Gutter’ also uses, slightly more dosed, distortion, samples and futuristic escapades. ‘Kill The Conspiracy’ is a threatening and aggressive sounding up-tempo dark electro song, with an industrial edge.

My favourite on this great album is ‘Killing For Gods’. It has a catchy melody, solid rhythm section, and sounds EBM meets future-pop but in a eighties sounding setting.

And what about a version of And One’s ‘Military Fashion Show’. This one also goes down wonderfully smoothly. Of course, the original is also a master piece.

With Church For The Malfunctioned Massive Ego delivers a diverse sounding, danceable album with a message that cannot be misunderstood. Like a plea for a new religion, a new kind of church, one that celebrates the lifestyle, pleasure, melancholy and message of the gothic. An institution where "The Malfunctioned" like us, who are sometimes referred to as weirdos because of a music and lifestyle choice, feel safe. And why not?! Thank you Massive Ego! Amen!